Perfectly Broken
by Takhrenixe
Summary: An unexpected betrayal leaves two souls equally shattered, but a chance encounter may just begin to mend them both. Not really a pairing, more friendship than anything. Rated T for minor swearing.


Many would say the most beautiful view of the sky is when you're up there right along with it.  
Rouge the Bat could fully second that long-held belief; currently she glided above the perfectly tranquil paradise that was Mobius, roughly over five-hundred feet from the flower-covered spring ground.  
Though, all things considered, she certainly didn't _feel_ very tranquil. Fat lot of good the nice boring scenery did to take her mind off of--

Damn it. The only reason she'd gone for a flight (and had stayed in the air for several hours despite her wings screaming in protest) was to try to forget what that Chaos-damned _traitor_ had done to her. And it hadn't worked, and now her wings were sore and she wouldn't be able to fly for days. My, what a wonderful day she was having.

Looking down upon the planet she inhabited, she saw a peculiar thing: Sonic the Hedgehog lay with his back against an old oak tree, holding a worn-looking violin against him.

To Rouge's knowledge, Sonic had recently denied any skill with music.

Unending curiousity drove the treasure hunter to find out more, so she silently descended and alighted on a limb of tree directly above him, (hopefully) unnoticed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

* * *

Many say the most beautiful view of the sky is when you're on the ground, staring up at it.  
Sonic the Hedgehog could fully second that sentiment; at that moment he sat underneath it and his favorite ancient oak, his long-forgotten violin filling the air with its melancholy tone. Nobody but he and his younger sister (who had long been dead) --the instrument hit a sour note--knew that Sonic even knew what a violin was, and he'd kept it that way for want of privacy. Now, when he was sure no one else was around, he let loose on it, pouring out all his emotions into the piece of wood, from everyday life to--

The violin screeched to an uncoordinated halt, and he nearly dropped it. He cursed softly, unshed tears glistening in his forest-green eyes. Eventually Sonic resumed his playing, and as he did so the Hedgehog caught a flash of black above him in the tree, immediately recognizing who it was. He continued his little concert, pretending to be oblivious, to not to have noticed.

He'd find out in due time why she was here, he told himself. Until then, he would play for her.

And spindash her into the ground if she made any smart comments.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

* * *

Rouge heard him swear as the music faltered, and given the circumstances she thought she knew what had crossed his mind. Still, the Bat listened intently, taking a slightly uncomfortable seat among the leaves and branches.

Sonic had begun a new song, the violin taking on an almost depressing mood.

_"Pretty, pretty little sparkling rose,_

_What happened to the way I used to make you feel?_

_I wish you knew what I would give to wake_

_And find that this nightmare isn't real._

_What was it I ever said to you that made me unbeautiful?"_

Well, that was quite a surprise. Sonic had never sung in front of anyone before, and Rouge had to admit his voice, normally balancing on the thin line between irritating and annoying, flowed perfectly with the notes that accompanied it, pleasant to her large, sensitive ears.

_"Lying, lying, fake little rose,_

_I told you I would never leave,_

_But where you go I cannot follow._

_Was it your aim that I deceive?_

_What was it I ever did to you that made me unbeautiful?"_

She remembered that day well. It had been the day Sonic finally made it back to Mobius; Amy ran all the way to her house, where he'd waited for her. Amy had been so happy to have him back she broke down crying right there in the middle of the dusty country road . . .

"Don't ever leave me again, Sonic the Hedgehog!", she'd gasped, plowing him into the ground with one of her signature bear-hugs.

"Don't you worry, Amy. I never will."

That had been a year ago. And the lying little bitch had betrayed him, without remorse.

Below her, the song continued.

_"Such a strange, confusing little rose._

_Was a heart of gold not enough for you?_

_How can you reject your soul?_

_Why would you want lies when you had someone so true?_

_Please, just tell me why you thought me unbeautiful . . ."_

Rouge's eye's widened slightly; she almost fell out of the tree in shock.

The words that came from her Hedgehog friend's mouth directly matched her thoughts toward the other half of the betrayal he'd put to music.  
At this point, the tone changed, drifting from sad to borderline frustration, and the smoothness of Sonic's voice broke every so often, interrupting and yet adding to the song.

_"Cruel, cruel, ruthless little rose,_

_You chose the other's hand, over time._

_The thorns, so well hidden, pushed me away_

_And then you were gone, no longer mine._

_To him, and now to you, I am unbeautiful."_

Feeling an overwhelming urge to comfort the heartbroken Hedgie, she readied herself to jump down from her perch as the final notes were played.

_"Now you're gone, no longer mine._

_For the shadows are more beautiful than I . . ._

. . . Hello, Rouge. Enjoying yourself?"

Rouge stopped dead in her tracks. She'd been caught.

The sixteen-year-old let herself fall from the tree and hovered gently to the ground in front of him. She expected the boy to be angry with her, but he only looked at her in a way that clearly said, 'I'm-annoyed-but-you-didn't-have-to-be-so-secretive-about-it'.  
"Why couldn't you have just sat down here? I still would have played."

"Sorry, Sonic." Rouge looked down at her feet in embarassment.

Quietly she took a place next to him; he put the violin down, staring blankly ahead.

"You miss Amy, don't you?"

His glassy, disinterested gaze was shattered; he half-whimpered, pulling his knees up and burying his head in them. The girl regretted saying anything, but she _certainly_ hadn't expected him to respond.

"Yes, I do. Very much. Don't you miss Shadow?"

"More than I thought I would, really . . . that song was beautiful, by the way."

Sonic said nothing, and Rouge was content to sit there with him.

In a way, she thought, they were more alike than either of them had known: the two of them had both been cast aside by their lovers without so much as a second glance, and they both had done everything they could to convince themselves and everyone else that it didn't really matter; that they were perfectly fine despite what had been done to them.

That contrary to recent belief, they were perfectly OK, perfectly _sane_, damnit, now stop pestering them and get on with your own perfectly wonderful selfish little lives and leave them the fuck _alone_.

What a complete and utter load of perfectly _bullshit_, and they both knew it, because nothing is ever perfect and there are a lot of things in the unbeatable game called life that are a hell of a lot less than that.

Like the world they live in.

Sonic and Rouge had lived amazing lives with amazing people. Perfectly fine.  
Except that those not-so-perfect-after-all people had gotten together and thought, 'Screw the high road, screw the low road, let's just make a new one! Everyone else doesn't matter at all; they won't care if we disappear off the face of the earth!'

And so they did.

And the azure Hedgehog and ivory Bat had been the casualties of the battle those two heartbreakers had fought with right and wrong and good and bad and here and gone and everyone and no one and yes and no and themselve and the whole world and roses and shadows, and they hated it with all they had, and could do nothing to change it.

All caught in the tumult had come out alive, save for Sonic and Rouge.

Yes, they were still breathing (though each earnestly wished that wasn't so), but they were dead inside, had been from the point that their hearts ripped themselves away and fled to Chaos-knows-where, leaving but two near-comatose dark souls, frozen from the inside out . . .

"Thank you."

That voice snapped her quickly out of her thoughts, bringing her back to the lush green hill, and the tree, and the much-too-cheery-in-her-opinion summer afternoon that seemed extremely out of place considering it was the middle of September.

"For what?"

"For staying. For not flying away after I saw you, like I honestly thought you would."

Abruptly he turned away, but not before she saw a tear run down his cheek.

"I mean, what's stopping you? Everybody else left. What harm could it do? What's one more person gone?"

Sonic said this with biting, sardonic amusement, his 'Perfectly Fine' facade cracking straight down the middle, falling away like the tear that now stained his chestfur a slightly darker shade of beige.

It was then Rouge realized that Sonic was infinitely more affected by the whole damned thing than she could ever be. She could ignore it and achieve the illusion that she could cope, it was he who was irrepairable, who needed healing.

So, she did the first thing that came to mind. She hugged him. After a full minute, she felt him hug back.

"You know, Sonic . . . if you ever need to talk--you know where to find me."

He didn't answer, but something told Rouge that he'd heard her.

Perfectly clear.

_**END**_

Well, there you have it. My very first fiction on this site. X3  
Just to be clear, here, I'm actually a rabid Sonadow supporter/fangirl, but this pairing is my second favorite. I hate the Pink Pest with every fiber of my being, if you haven't already noticed, and all you Sonadow-haters out there can flame me as much as you like; you will be ignored.  
On a lighter note . . . I think this turned out very nicely. More to come soon, I hope! ^-^  
(And just in case you're wondering, the italics are a song that I wrote myself, they're not from any existing song, as far as I know.)

I hope you enjoyed my attempt at decent authorism. Please review! :)  
Signing off for now,  
-Takhrenixe


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